The present invention relates to an ink-dot printer which comprises at least one needle movable between a rest position remote from a recorded medium and a projected position close to the recorded medium, and driving means for moving the needle between the rest position and the projected position, and is constructed so that ink is supplied to and attached on the distal end portion of the needle on the recodded medium side when the needle is located in the rest position, and that the ink is moved from the distal end portion of the needle to the recorded medium to form an ink dot on the recorded medium when the needle moves to close to the recorded medium than in the rest position, thus forming a character or figure consisting of an aggregate of ink dots on the recorded medium.
Conventional ink-dot printers of this type are provided with ink film forming means serving as ink supply means, which includes a pair of pole plates disposed parallel to each other so as to define a vertically extended slit, an ink tank containing magnetic ink in which the lower end portions of the two pole plates are immersed, and exciting means for exciting the pole plates to draw the magnetic ink from the ink tank into the slit, thereby forming a magnetic ink film in the slit.
In this arrangement, the distal end of the needle in the rest position is located in the slit, so that the magnetic ink forming the film in the slit attaches to the distal end.
In these prior art ink-dot printers, moreover, an ink dot is formed on a recording sheet, or the recorded medium, on a platen by moving the needle from the rest position to the projected position so that the distal end of the needle impacts on the recording sheet. However, the impact of the needle running into the recording sheet on the platen produces a very high noise.